


North (feat. the Things We Say in the Dark)

by six6string



Category: Fence (Comics)
Genre: Fence Secret Santa, Fluff, Gen, Pre-Canon, Pre-Slash, Songfic, in this house we have Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:55:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28472736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/six6string/pseuds/six6string
Summary: Aiden is silent for a long moment, then he says, “Kings Row doesn’t feel like home. It feels like… I don’t know, but it doesn’t feel right. I hate home, but at least I understand it.”
Relationships: Harvard Lee & Aiden Kane
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	North (feat. the Things We Say in the Dark)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OohSoManyFandoms](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OohSoManyFandoms/gifts).



> For @happygirl2oo2 on tumblr, as part of Fence Secret Santa 2020! Hope you like the haiden fluff :)
> 
> Beta'd by the lovely Syd
> 
> Song: North by Sleeping at Last (I recommend listening to it before/while reading)

Harvard knocks on the door, once, twice. Softly, in case Aiden’s already asleep. He hears someone shift inside, but no one says anything. Harvard’s fingers graze over the door handle, his body and mind conflicting over whether or not to open it. 

Inside, the bed let out a soft groan and he finally gave in and opened the door. 

The room is dark, but he doesn’t bother turning on the light, already knowing the room’s layout like the back of his hand despite only having moved in a week ago. He makes his way over to the bed, or beds, rather. The very first night they pushed the two twins together in the middle of the room, making one bed big enough for the both of them. Aiden is a lump under the blankets on one side, only the top of his blond head visible. 

Harvard sits down on the edge of the bed next to him, the frame creaking slightly under his weight. Aiden shifts, turning away from Harvard. Harvard sighs, rubbing his forehead and trying not to think about how his best friend is avoiding him. 

It’s been a week since they moved into the dorms, and Aiden - well, to say he’s homesick would be an understatement. He hasn’t moved from his bed since classes ended for the day, not even going to the dining hall for dinner. 

“You can’t stay like this forever, you know,” Harvard says softly, gently touching Aiden’s shoulder. His friend doesn’t respond.. Harvard sighs and stands up, quietly getting changed and brushing his teeth without turning on the light so as not to wake Aiden. 

He slips into bed beside Aiden, pulling the blankets over him and settling back on his pillow. Next to him, Aiden shifts his position, pressing against Harvard’s side and reaching one arm over Harvard’s chest. Harvard runs a hand through Aiden’s hair, slowly and gently. 

The room is silent for a long moment, the only sound is their breathing and the steady whir of the fan out in the hall. Harvard stares up at the ceiling, thinking about the comforting weight of Aiden’s arm across his chest and the strange mood his friend seems to be in. 

“Why can’t I?” Aiden whispers, just as Harvard had begun to think he had fallen asleep. His voice sounds small, a far cry from the outward confidence he normally graces the world with. 

“You can’t fence from your bed,” Harvard replies. “And you’re going to have to eat something eventually.” There’s no response. Harvard shifts in order to put one of his arms around Aiden, pulling him into a half-hug as they lie next to each other. 

“I hate this,” Aiden whispers, fingers tangled in the fabric of Harvard’s shirt. “I hate it here. I want to go home.”

Harvard rubs circles on his friend’s back, slowly, soothingly, the way his mom used to when he would have nightmares. “Why do you want to go home so bad?”

Aiden is silent for a long moment, then he says, “Kings Row doesn’t feel like home. It feels like… I don’t know, but it doesn’t feel right. I hate home, but at least I understand it.”

Harvard continues to rub circles into Aiden’s back, staring up at the dark ceiling. Next to him, Aiden’s breaths begin to shudder, and his fingers tighten. Harvard pulls him closer, Aiden’s head tucked under his chin, his soft hair tickling Harvard’s cheek. 

“No place ever feels like home, at first,” he says. “Do you remember when we moved, back in second grade? And you stayed over for a whole week because I was scared to go to sleep in my room alone?”

“Yeah,” Aiden mumbles. “Little Harvard, such a scaredy cat.”

“Says the guy who still sleeps with a teddy bear.”

“You leave Harvard Paw out of this.” Harvard laughs softly. 

“The point is, King’s Row isn’t home yet. But it could be.”

“Hmm,” Aiden hums, and snuggles closer. “Really? You think so?”

“Sure,” Harvard says, “we could paint the walls whatever color you want, and when you get bored of that,” he smiled at the indignant look Aidan threw him, “ we can paint them again. We can stay up late and watch old movies and eat as many cupcakes as you want. We can do anything.” 

Aiden shifts again, wedging one of his leg’s under Harvard’s and curling into his side.“That sounds nice,” he murmurs. “What color should we do first?” He says it like it’s a joke, but it doesn’t feel like one.

“What about purple?” Harvard says, and Aiden pokes his ribs, just hard enough that Harvard laughs and replies, “So no purple, then. What about blue?”

“Mmm. Maybe.”

“And after the walls are painted,” Harvard says, lowering his voice so he’s whispering in Aiden’s ear, “We can cover them with all of your boy band posters, and hang up that picture that my dad took of us at elementary school graduation, remember that?”

“Nooo,” Aiden laughs, voice muffled. “Anything but that picture. And if we’re putting up all of my One Direction posters, we have to find some space for your Star Wars dolls.”

“For the last time, they’re action figures. Action figures! And obviously they’d go on that shelf, duh.” Harvard points to where he knows the shelf is, even though Aiden can’t see him in the dark. 

“Well, where are all our fencing trophies going to go, then?”

“So you’re going to get out of bed and go win some fencing trophies?”

“... I’m considering it.”

Harvard laughs, ruffling Aiden’s hair. “Obviously we’re going to need a whole other shelf for those. You know, because there’s going to be so many.”

“Obviously.”

“See? It doesn’t seem so bad, now,” Harvard says, smiling, even though he knows Aiden can’t see him in the dark. 

“Hmm.” 

They fall silent for a long while. Outside the window, Harvard can hear it start to rain, droplets pelting against the windows and roof like a thousand tiny drums. Aiden pulls the blanket closer around himself, and Harvard sighs and tugs it back before they finally settle somewhere in the middle. Harvard has to bend his knees to fit his feet under the blanket, but it's worth it. 

Harvard’s almost asleep when the thought comes to him. Not quite a realization, because it’s something he’s known for a long time, somewhere in his head. It’s the sort of thought that makes all the puzzle pieces click together. 

He looks over at Aiden, still and quiet and probably asleep, his blond hair splayed over the pillow and his mouth slightly open. Aiden’s chest rises and falls slowly, in the most miniscule of movements, and Harvard Paw moves with him, pressed tight to Aiden’s chest. 

“I think you’re my home,” Aiden whispers, so quiet that Harvard almost doesn’t hear it. “Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be.”

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this, hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Tumblr: @harvard-said-no


End file.
